After pondering over it for a few days, I?m going to give Sharmila Nicollet the benefit of doubt here. The lissome pro, who possesses one of the finest golf swings in the country?amongst men or women?represents, undoubtedly, the future of women?s pro golf in India: a fact she reiterated with aplomb recently by coming back from injury and winning full playing right on the Ladies European Tour (LET) for 2014. Also to her credit, Nicollet has leveraged her popularity, and (with no malice) her media-friendly image, to get endorsements from Audi India and, more recently, Marriott India.
And that?s what makes her remarks last week to a mainline daily? in which she averred that there?s discrimination against the women?s game in India?all the more bizarre. She went on to qualify her statement on the basis of differing prize money, number of tournaments and media coverage, in which the women?s pro tour comes out poorer. Everything else she said about the government needing to support the women?s tour more and the need for more sponsors to come forward is relevant, but ?discriminated? is a poor choice of word. But like I said at the beginning, my issue with Nicollet?s remarks is of semantics, not so much about what I think she was trying to say.
For those who may not be following the women?s game in India, here are a few blunt facts: run by the Women?s Golf Association of India (WGAI), the women?s pro tour is sponsored by that loyal untiring supporter of the game in the country?Hero Motors. The tour conducted only 13 tournaments in 2013 and has a miniscule total of 16 pros plying their trade on tour. ?It?s a bit of a catch-22,? says Gauri Monga, currently ranked second amongst the amateurs. ?Sponsors hesitate in coming forward because there are such few lady pros, and a lot of us think twice about turning pro because there are not enough tournaments and money to be made on the pro tour,? says Monga, who plans to turn pro after the upcoming Asian Games. It follows that it?s not as much discrimination as it is the lack of inability of the women?s game right now to leverage brands effectively?something that will only change when more and more girls take the plunge into pro golf; the media coverage and corporate support are bound to follow. It?s not easy for the players as things stand right now: the winner of the order of merit 2013, Neha Tripathi, won five tournaments and pocketed little over R10 lakh. Given the costs of travel and stay (most girls don?t have sponsors), it certainly doesn?t make for good living. That conundrum has led to many players backing off, the most notable being Nalini Siwach?one of the most promising talents on the WGAI?who left golf to pursue academics instead.
Contrast that with tiny South Korea, a country whose tryst with women?s golf began in 1998 when a 20-year-old Se Ri Pak outlasted amateur challenger Jenny Chuasiriporn in an epic 20-hole play off to become the youngest winner of the US Women?s Open. The win?Pak?s first as a professional?announced her arrival as one of the hottest talents on the premier LPGA Tour. Pak sealed her status with another major win, the LPGA Championship, later that year. Pak?s unprecedented success raised the stock of Asian golf, but more importantly, set into motion an interest in women?s golf in Korea. In retrospect, it?s hard to overestimate just how important Pak?s victory was to Korean golf.
Little over a decade and a half down the line, Koreans comprise the largest overseas group on the LPGA. As many as 23 (not counting Korean-Americans like Christina Kim and Michelle Wie) Koreans entered the 2013 US Women?s Open, including former winner Inbee Park, who ended up lifting the trophy for the second time. Second and third spots were also taken by Park?s countrywomen IK Kim and So Yeon Ru. In an interview to Golf World magazine after her first win in 2008, Park had claimed spokesmanship for the second generation of Korean women golfers in thanking Pak. ?I?d like to thank Se Ri for all that she?s done for Korean golf. I didn?t know anything about golf back then, but I was watching her (on TV). Just looking at her, I thought I can do it too,? said the then 19-year-old after breaking Pak?s record of becoming the youngest-ever winner of the US Open.
So how did they do it? How does a small country, with a population of 50 million, reportedly have over 3,500 scratch women golfers? And more importantly, how do the exploits of one player (Pak was the only Korean on the LPGA in 1998) inspire her countrywomen to the point where, in just about 16 years, there are now over 45 Koreans on the LPGA?
In two words?infrastructural support: after Pak?s win, the Korean golf federation got into the act, creating a three-tier amateur tour, which all players must come through to qualify for government support. Once they make it through there, they have to go through another three-tiered professional circuit. By the time they?ve gone through the paces, they?re ready to graduate out of the KLPGA and head for the LPGA or for Europe.
Things have come a long way in the past decade in India. The Indian Golf Union now regularly sends women amateurs overseas to take part in international tournaments. The pro tour only has a handful of tournaments and sponsorship is scarce, but the very fact that it exists gives young amateurs the option to turn pro. The role of Korean parents is another major factor: most Indian parents do not push their girls because professional golf is still not an economically viable option here. The girls themselves try and juggle academics and golf, not committing themselves fully to turning pro when the time is right.
There is also, undeniably, the determination and penchant for long hours of focused work, which the Koreans seem to be able to put in. ?I don?t want to make it sound as if it?s just the external support that they get which makes them such good players,? says Monga. ?They work really, really hard. I hope I?m able to work that hard on my game one day…?
Obviously, a role model would help too. That mantle rests squarely on Nicollet?s shoulders?a win on the LET would bring the spotlight on women?s golf like never before. That?s what we?d hope to see. Indiscriminately speaking.
A golfer, Meraj Shah also writes about the game